Approach and landing are often the most demanding and dynamic phases of flight. Although these flight phases can be highly automated in many instances, sudden changes in approach or landing parameters can result in an abrupt transition to a state of little to no automation. In such an instance, a pilot may be required to rapidly assess the possibility of diverting from the planned route and landing at an alternative airport (referred to herein as a “diversion airport”). Factors that may warrant a landing diversion can include a change in the designated runway or airport due to, for example, an on-ground emergency situation, a passenger emergency situation, or an airport closure; a change in landing minimums due to adverse weather conditions; a reduction in aircraft stopping performance due to an engine failure, reverse thrust unavailability, or speed break failure; and a decrease in useable runway length due to the presence of ice or debris on the runway surface. After determining that a landing deviation is appropriate and identifying a feasible diversion option, the pilot requests clearance to perform the landing deviation from a ground controller. If clearance is granted, the pilot then executes the landing deviation without undue delay. Even after executing the diversion, however, the pilot and other flight crew members may still be required to monitor for any further changes in the condition or conditions necessitating the diversion. A considerable workload is consequently placed on the pilot and flight crew to continually monitor flight parameters and assess safety considerations under landing diversion conditions.
It is thus desirable to provide cockpit display systems, which facilitate pilot decision-making and safety assessments when considering diverting from a planned landing. Ideally, such a cockpit display system would provide the pilot with an intuitive graphical indication of diversion airports at which the aircraft could feasibly land to reduce the workload placed on the pilot and the aircrew under dynamically-changing diversion conditions. It would also be desirable if such a cockpit display system could facilitate communications between a pilot and a ground controller when negotiating a possible landing deviation. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended Claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings and the foregoing Background.